Good job Jimbo again with your weak defense. Let's count what kind of defenses you've came up with so far. a) You accused me of being a Coker reseller, which I'm not. b) You accused Coker of paddling their cues as SW knockoffs, which you have absolutely no proof of. c) You say that the Coker block rings are an attempted copy of SW block rings, which is a very far fetched accusation and quite unfair. 4) You basically said that Coker's a knockoff because they also make 6 alternating points with w2w screws, which is extremely unfair by any standards.
I'm not sure what you are even reading, I'm not sure why you feel I am defending myself? I don't need to defend anything. Just because you have an agenda doesn't mean I have any need to defend myself, I'm not the one who doesn't have the originality to come up with my own designs. I didn't say Coker used the SW tag to sell their cues, yet it does seem odd that EVERYONE else seems to use it. Also you don't have any proof that they don't, the burden of proof is not mine here. I never said their rings were an attempt at a copy, what I said was they are much closer then you are saying they are, and the 6 alternating points is only one part stop dwelling on it.
I'm not trying to be ignorant. I've listed the important design differences between a Coker and a SW. You've yet to respond to any of them with convincing arguments. Your weak arguments so far seems to be 1) Others can tell you where the similarities are 2) You're blind 3) Again, the ring comparison. 4) you can't tell the differences when you place them 15 feet away.
If you're not trying then it must come natural, because you've basically said that the taper and the pin were part of the design, this seems to me to be clear proof that maybe you aren't on the same page as I am. I also didn't come up with any proof because you seem to be one of the only people who can't see they are knockoffs. It's not my job to convince you, I'm happy that you like Coker cues, I'm also happy that you want to turn a blind eye to the fact that it may or may not be one of their SW knockoffs. My guess is if you have one of the cues we are talking about you've been approached more then once while playing and heard the words Southwest come out of someone's mouth.
The last one is particularly weak. So what if someone can't tell the difference 15 feet away. I'm pretty sure I can and I"m pretty sure a lot of the people on here can also. That's not really a good argument anyways. Do you admire a cuemaker's work from 15 feet away? Don't think most people do that. You like to get up close and pick it up and study the details.
I admire cuemmakers who come up with nice designs. Different designs, cues that stand out and stand as their own. I enjoy a cue made by Samsara, or McWorter because I know that I can look at the cue and without seeing a name I can tell who made it. I can appreciate find design work from 20 feet or 2 inches. I admire people like Thomas Wayne or Edwin Reyes who make 1 of a kind works of art that never need to use the name of another cuemaker to be sold on E-bay, people who work hard to come up with a "look" that makes them stand apart from the hacks who just see what works and sells and then try to copy that and ride the coat tails.
Maybe you're not the 1st to accuse them of being knockoffs. But we're not talking about who did it first. Are you just merely going along with the people you've heard calling them knockoffs? Seems like you're running out of defenses and starting to run for cover. Again, please think about how absurd your standards of "knockoffs" is. It sounds like you're calling any cue made with 6 alternating points, w2w joint, no inlays, wood rings, and phenolic joint a knockoff of SW.
Maybe??? I'm not going along with anyone, all I'm doing is giving my opinion of someone's work and I might add that it's an opinion shared by many. You on the other hand think I need to defend myself? I disagree, I am in the majority and not only of on lookers, but of people who own them and try to sell them. I can check E-bay any day of the week and find 4-6 Coker cues for sale and almost every one mentions SW. You can turn the blind eye, but you my friend are in the minority. I doubt even the folks at Coker would try to put up the fight you are, I bet when asked they would admit to it and say it's a style they like and admire, but you can be the martyr and keep the fight alive.
To me, if a cue is using a SW design, the cue has to use similar ring style, 6 alternating height points, and a SW band. Unless I start to see all 3 things appearing on Cokers, I wouldn't call them for using a SW design.
